


handle with care

by fleury



Category: Tiny Meat Gang (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, and who says chivalry is dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 05:24:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19457272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleury/pseuds/fleury
Summary: So, there’s this kid in Cody’s public speaking class.(“A little birdie told me you’re going sweet on Noel,” Devon says.)





	handle with care

**Author's Note:**

> cody ko is an absolute mess, thank you for coming to my ted talk

So, there’s this kid in Cody’s public speaking class. 

And, first things first, Cody’s really only taking the class for this guy. That and he’s desperate for a communications credit for his major.

There’s really nothing particularly special about public speaking, if he’s being honest. He does it all the time, everyone does, so he tries pretty hard to convince himself that maybe it’s just the easy ‘A’ that was attractive to him. Maybe it was the thought of getting better at delivering speeches, or learning how to win arguments and being persuasive, but.

Really, Cody could care less about a lot of those things. Truth be told, public speaking isn’t a fun class. Memorizing and delivering speeches day after day definitely isn’t very high on his bucket list. Well, it wouldn’t be if it was on there in the first place. 

He’s not, like, bad at it. It’s just not his cup of tea. He’s constantly unmotivated and slumped over in his chair, staring blankly at whoever is up there giving a persuasive speech on why to buy a fucking Tesla. As if Cody can, you know. Afford that.

But the point is: there’s this kid in his public speaking class — Noel. It’s a nice name, short and sweet, easy to say. He can think of a few different ways that would come in handy. Not to be _that_ guy, or anything.

Cody really thinks it’s entirely justified, thirsting over this fucking guy. Because he’s just radiating confidence every single time he steps up to deliver a speech. His voice is soothing, low, sometimes a little rounded right around the edges. And Cody thinks he could get used to that, even if he hasn’t yet. Not quite. Because, yeah, you could say Cody’s heart starts racing whenever Noel’s speaking and his gaze lands on Cody, still drowning in his confidence, still talking about — puppies.

That’s a thing, too. Noel’s a softie, Cody learns that much pretty quickly. He’s delivered a few speeches on just how important it is to adopt pets, and sometimes he’ll go on tangents about just how much he loves his dog. But he’s so passionate about what he preaches, you can never really tell he’s going off script, not until he catches himself and laughs it off. 

Another thing Noel might catch is Cody zoning out while staring at him. 

Listen, Cody’s not the king of subtlety. Damn straight he’s trying, but it’s just so easy to rest his head against the palm of his hand and watch the way Noel’s mouth moves. Cody’ll unashamedly let his eyes sweep over him, zeroing in on whenever he pushes his hair back, or flashes his smile, or just. Does his thing.

(His _thing_ is standing there and looking pretty, which he does a lot of, so that much is just unfair.)

The other shoe does drop at some point. Cody says his own stupid ass speeches, pretending to be super invested in politics or whatever he’s talking about, and smiles when he has to. And the thing is, Cody could be the greatest public speaker in the world. Hell, he could give speeches like it’s his side job, but he’ll always stutter when he looks at Noel. 

It’s not like Noel’s a judgmental prick or anything. His expression is never bitchy, but he’s always wearing this soft curve in his lips whenever Cody catches his eye, and Cody thinks _that’s_ what catches him off guard. Every fucking time. That Noel can just sit there and smile like nothing else matters, and Cody’s forced to continue talking even while his mind is running wild and his heart is battering against his ribs. 

It’s unfair, is what it is. 

So, yeah, there’s a kid in Cody’s public speaking class and Cody might’ve caught feelings.

+

Cody’s not the kind of person to usually sit at the back of his classes, but he walks in late after beating the ever-loving shit out of his snooze button, and the only spot close by is right in the back. He’s already getting those looks you do when you interrupt a class, and there’s a guy down in front fucking snickering, so there’s really nothing he can do to help it.

He slips into the nearest empty seat and, lo and behold, he’s sitting right next to Noel for the first time maybe ever. 

They’ve talked a few times. Like, for example, when Cody’s needed to borrow a pen to edit his script or take notes, but that’s about as far as their interactions have gone. There _is_ the whole longingly staring thing Cody does more than enough of, but there’s no way Noel isn’t used everyone else pulling the same shit by now. 

He’s pretty. Seriously. It would be a shame if he was oblivious about it.

Even if, with the way he holds himself, there’s no way he is. 

Noel glances at him from the corner of his eye, and Cody really only catches it because he’s come to terms with dedicating his peripheral vision to looking at Noel. It still makes his lungs seize up on him, especially when Noel leans in and says, “Hey, Cody, right?”

Cody bites back the _yeah, but you can call me whatever you want_ clawing at his throat, and goes for, “Yeah, what’s up?” He thinks he gets extra points for that, at least.

“Uh, Devon left his books in my room. I was wondering if you could pass them back to him for me.”

Right. So there’s that, too. Devon’s friends with Noel, because Noel is so fucking great. And they’ve got, like, this bromance that Cody cannot stand. He’s tried to stomach it, he really has, but he’s entirely convinced that Devon’s corrupting Noel with ripped jorts and tacky snapbacks. 

To be honest, Devon’s not a good influence on anyone, and Noel is absolutely no exception. In fact, Noel’s stupidly impressionable. Devon really needs to take a step back.

“Yeah, for sure,” Cody says, because he’s good people and even if he’s totally unwilling to clean up after Devon’s shit, he’s on Noel’s side here. “Give it to me after class?”

“That works,” Noel says. The girl speaking up front is still droning on, but Cody really can’t help but watch Noel’s smile instead, for a little longer than he should, maybe. “Devon’s always leaving his stuff behind, y’know how it is. If his head wasn’t attached to his neck he’d probably lose that too.”

That gets a laugh out of Cody, even if he has to keep it carefully quiet. Since getting yelled at by his prof isn’t what he’s here for. “No kidding. He literally needs a babysitter. Or, like, three.” 

Noel makes a considering face at him. “Think it’s safe to assume he won’t drive them crazy too?” 

They make casual conversation for a while until Cody gets one too many warning glares from his prof and breaks it off. He decides to busy himself with his notes so it’s not awkward, even if filling in the margins with meaningless sentences probably isn’t the greatest use of his time. 

Noel gives another speech this class, and if Cody feels himself physically freezing up when Noel grins at him, he pretends not to notice.

+

“Devon,” Cody calls, knocking harshly at his door. “Open up, I got your shit.”

“Wait, _wait_ , Jesus,” Devon answers, his voice muffled from the other side. There’s a sound of rustling sheets and he opens up the door about five seconds later, his face flushed and his shirt askew. Great, just what Cody wanted.

“Is someone else in there, too?” He teases, swaying forward to look over his shoulder.

“What? No,” Devon says quickly, tearing his textbooks away from Cody. He blocks the doorway off a little more too, as if Cody doesn’t know sex hair when he sees it. “I was asleep. You interrupted my power nap, asswipe.”

“Yeah? Well, it’s not my fault you have dumb bitch disorder. Try to keep your things in line, maybe,” he offers, crossing his arms over his chest. He hopes he looks judgmental, because that’s exactly what he’s going for right now, even if Devon looks way out of it. It’s a little hard not to laugh.

“Where did you even get these?” He asks, and then stops, thinks it over, and before Cody can say anything, adds, “Oh my god. You were with Noel.”

Cody knows exactly what Devon’s implying, because he’s a piece of shit and his mind is _constantly_ in the gutter. Someone needs to teach him when not to say shit like that. Especially since Cody’s got the right mind just to stand here and make meaningless small talk until whoever else is in Devon’s room gets bored and leaves. Cody will go there.

“Yeah,” he says. “In class. As classmates. Wanna hear more about it? I got lots of time.”

“Sure thing.” Devon’s brows knit together, like he’s in thought, and Cody really wasn’t expecting that. “What do you think of him? Cute, right?” 

So Cody’s definitely having severe déjà vu to back when he came out to his parents and that’s all his mom would ask him. Pointing to random guys on the street and gushing about how great they’d look together, that he should talk to them. God, he is not going through that again. “Sure, whatever. You need anything else?”

“ _Sure, whatever_ ,” Devon parrots. “You agree he’s cute, then.” 

“You want me to lie and tell you he’s not cute? Dev, everyone can see that he’s cute, c’mon. Be real here.” Cody really only says it to get Devon off his case, and he thinks it comes out nonchalant enough to spare him from a reaction, but Devon’s jaw literally fucking drops. He looks like a cartoon character. 

“You’re into him,” he says accusingly. 

“I’m—“

“Into him!” Devon laughs, and then puts his hands over his mouth. It should probably be concerning that he’s in a considerably better mood now that he has ammo on Cody. No surprise. “You have to tell him.”

“Dude, no,” Cody says. “And you’re not saying anything either. I’ll feed your tongue to his dog.”

“Cody, please, all he does all day is study. You’d, like, save his social life.” Devon’s grinning wider all of the sudden. “And I bet he has a really big—“

“Heart. You’re right, his heart is huge,” Cody interjects, giving him a disapproving look. “His super sweet, obviously, but we barely know each other, man. Be realistic.”

“I’ll talk him up for you.”

“No, you will not.”

“You’ll regret it. I’m the king of smooth-talking,” Devon insists, puffing out his chest. Cody at the point where he’s realizing he’s never going to live this down. It’s definitely not what he signed up for. 

“Didn’t you confess your undying love for your first girlfriend in a Taco Bell?” Cody asks, keeping his tone condescending, and he hears a laugh coming from inside Devon’s room.

+

Turns out, Noel is just as charismatic as Cody thought he was when he was admiring him from afar.

Because now Noel actually goes out and saves the spot next to him for Cody, because Cody’s schedule is lacklustre, but that’s besides the point. Noel’ll always invite him to sit by him, and that’s really when he turns on the charm. 

Cody wasn’t sure if it could get anymore severe, with Noel’s disney prince grin and pretty eyes, but obviously the impact is beyond magnified from up close. Because Noel’s really fucking touchy. In the sense that he’ll knock their knees together to punctuate a joke, or hold onto Cody’s shoulder while he’s laughing. Which isn’t super groundbreaking, he gets that, but it’s like a goddamn out of body experience when Noel does it to him.

Being close to Noel in general is amazing. Cody’s going to suck at getting used to that. 

“Hey,” he one morning, because that’s really how all their conversations start. Noel watches him get in his seat, smiling.

“Thought you weren’t gonna show up today,” he jokes, and Cody’s heart flutters at the idea of Noel starting to expect him. His entire life is so, so fucked.

“Bad sleep schedule,” Cody says dismissively, rubbing his eye with the heel of his hand. Noel makes a sound of understanding. “Oh, uh, by the way. I was wondering if you’d wanna catch a bite after class today. I missed breakfast, so I mean.” He gives him a little shrug, leaving more than enough room for Noel to reject the offer. Obviously, he’d prefer the alternate option because Cody would rather not go everywhere with a paper bag over his head. So.

“Oh, uh” Noel says. “Okay, for sure.”

Cody can’t keep the smile off his face. “Yeah?”

Noel grins back. “Yeah.” 

+

“A little birdie told me you’re going sweet on Noel,” Devon says, wiggling his eyebrows fucking obscenely.

“Who’s the birdie?” Cody’s entirely done with this. 

“Take a wild guess.”

“Listen, we went out for brunch,” Cody says. “That’s, like, the most chill shit I could manage.” 

“Brunch, huh?” Devon’s laughing. He doesn’t get it, Cody has _culture_. He’s not going to blow Noel in a McDonald’s bathroom. He is not Devon. “You took the guy you like out to brunch. Why don’t you just get married?”

“Because we’re just friends.” 

“I don’t doubt that.” Devon leans a little further back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling. “You should probably know he talks about you non-stop, though. Just in case you want me to ask if he’s free for more _brunch_.” 

Devon’s rolling his eyes, but Cody’s kind of still stuck processing what he just said. “What?”

“Oh, sure. Noel could write your autobiography, man. It’s good shit,” he says, sounding amused. “Just imagine one of his speeches in public speaking or whatever, except that it’s about you. I go through that shit every damn day.” 

Cody blinks at him. Once, twice. “What.” 

“Are you serious?” Devon looks baffled, his brows raised towards his hairline. “I thought you were good at public speaking, man. Y’know, _communication_?” 

“He never,” Cody cuts himself off, wondering whether or not to thank Devon for this. Probably not. He owed him anyways. “I didn’t think he’d actually — is he into me?” 

“I swear.” Devon scrubs a hand over his face. “You’d be so lost without me, man.”

+

Devon suggests asking Noel out with, like, a giant teddy bear holding a heart. Because he says it worked with his girlfriend. And Cody _could_ do that, but he learned his lesson when it comes to following Devon’s advice a long time ago. 

He goes with flowers, because they’re practical. And pretty. Not as pretty as Noel, which is — actually a line he stores in the back of his head. Just in case. 

The next time he makes plans with Noel is for lunch, because progressively getting later seems like a good strategy. He can build himself up to dinner, if Noel allows it. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, and whatever. 

Noel gets to where they agreed to meet up first, sitting up on one of the tables outside the quaint little café, his fingers flying across his phone. He looks good, really good. 

“Noel, hey,” Cody calls as he’s approaching him, and he watches something wash over Noel’s face once he catches sight of the flowers. He can’t quite read his expression, not while he’s walking over, but—

That’s when Cody’s foot catches on a crack in the sidewalk. 

His brain goes fucking offline, and he hits the ground with a painful thud. It all works out in slow motion in his head, like the universe is mocking him. _Fuck_ , he thinks. _Fuck, fuck, fuck._

“Holy shit,” Noel cries out, he’s standing right over him with the next two seconds, while Cody’s still trying to get over falling on his goddamn face. He collects himself just to realize Noel’s offering him a hand, looking apologetic. His eyes linger on something, but he doesn’t say anything. “Are you okay? God, dude, you scared the shit out of me.”

Cody takes his hand, and it hurts a little to stand, but he pretends he’s imagining it. Noel gives his hand a squeeze before letting go. He hopes he’s not imagining that. “Yeah, sorry, I’m — these are for you,” he tries, holding up the flowers.

To sugar-coat it, they could probably be saved. If Cody picked out the rumpled ones, and, like, tied them together with a bow.

But to be brutally honest, they look like he just put them through a drying machine. The stems are crooked and bent, and they all look sad. Pathetic. A little like how Cody feels.

“Cody...” Noel says anyways, taking them with a small smile on his face. “I love them, I do, but.”

Cody braces himself for the rejection. It makes sense. If he can’t walk two steps without face-planting, he kind of deserves it. And then,

“You’re bleeding,” Noel says, biting back a smile. He’s holding the sad, pathetic flowers to his chest like they’re the best gift he’s ever gotten, and he’s smiling.

“Wait, what?”

Noel points right above his own eyebrow. “You’re bleeding,” he repeats, and Cody can hear fragments of the laugh threatening to come out. 

“Oh, seriously.” He brushes his fingers over where Noel had told him too and, yeah. 

“Alright, c’mon. Come with me.” He holds out his hand again. 

“But what about lunch?”

“We can eat in, man. It’s not important, you’re gonna bleed all over your food,” Noel says, and smiles at him when Cody takes his hand. 

“You sure?”

“ _Yes_ , no exceptions. Plus, you can meet my dog.” 

Cody laughs. “Of course.”

+

“So, was that the grand gesture you were going to sweep me off my feet with or what?” Noel asks, dabbing Cody’s head with a cotton pad soaked in antiseptic.

Cody blows out a breath, wincing a little. “Did it work?”

“You could say that. I mean, I can honestly tell you I’ve never swooned this hard in my life.” 

“Flattering.”

“Mhm.” Noel presses a bandaid over where he’d dabbed the wound, and presses a kiss to it.

+

“I heard you and Noel played doctor.”

“Devon, shut the fuck up.”


End file.
